Twixt Fœnum and The Hold Lies the Door to Equestria
by Matthais Unidostres
Summary: Applejack's investigation of the Flim Flam brothers' newest scheme will lead to a chance encounter with something that Equestria has never seen before. Starting with 1 new friendship, and then 6 new friendships, the gap between two worlds will be bridged, and the Equestrians and Fœnumians alike will discover just how close their worlds really are. A Them's Fightin' Herds crossover
**Author's Note:**

 **Before we start, I would like to make it clear that this story was made before all the details of the full plot to _Them's Fightin' Herds_ were revealed. All I have to work with are the established backstories of the 6 main fighters and a bit of the lore of Fœnum as explained in the Book of Lore. I'll also be taking liberties when dealing with a certain book, but I'll try to make the story good and enjoyable even if it doesn't follow the game's cannon to the letter. That being said, at any point where I'm going into uncharted territory, they'll be an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the paragraph.**

 **With that out of the way, 3. . . 2. . . 1. . . STAMPEDE!**

* * *

 **Twixt Fœnum and The Hold Lies the Door to Equestria**

 **Part One**

 _Long ago, in the land of Fœnum, a legendary figure known only as The Prophet grew tired of living in fear of the predators the plagued the world. The Prophet's distress and grief was so great and so earnest, that her ancestor's spirits guided her to a portal her predecessors used as a passageway to the afterlife. Inside was a void-like chamber that led to other worlds. One of the doors led back to Fœnum while another door led to a realm known as The Hold. She knew this was the place where the predators should belong. So, under her guidance, the nations of Fœnum fought a long and costly war to drive the predators through the void and into The Hold. The Prophet then used an Enchanted Key, made from one of her magnificent horns, locking both the door to The Hold and the door to Fœnum, ensuring peace forever. . . or at least. . . they thought it would be forever. . ._

 _However, the doors to Fœnum and The Hold were only two of many door within the void-like chamber, and now, we are going to take a look through one of the other doors twixt Fœnum and the Hold. . ._

* * *

"Well ah'll be," Applejack remarked in disapproval.

The Mane Six, plus Spike and Starlight Glimmer, had all come to Manehatten for a very special occasion: the opening of Rarity's third clothing boutique. It a joyous yet classy celebration, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony, a few newspaper photographers, and _no_ refreshments of course. Rarity would not have stained dresses on her opening day.

In truth, the whole thing was slightly boring, but Rarity's friends wouldn't be her friends if they weren't there to share this important moment with her. Plus, Rarity _wanted_ to share this moment with her friends. In addition, the event wasn't exactly boring for everyone. Fluttershy's confidence seemed to increase as she dove into complex discussions on the topic of sewing, using fancy terms and expressing knowledge that amazed all who listened to her.

And, of course, Coco Pommel was over the moon with joy when she was given the job as managed of the Manehatten shop.

But, all of that was already over and done with, and it was now time for the friends to head back home to Ponyville. However, Applejack was sidetracked by a flyer taped to a traffic light pole.

"They just don't know when to quit, do they?" Applejack went on.

"What is it?" Twilight said as she looked at the flyer. She immediately frowned, "Oh. . ."

Rainbow Dash flew above her friends' heads and read from the flyer, " _'Flim and Flam's Traveling Show of the Curious and Strange'_? Huh, you're right AJ. They _don't_ know when to quit."

"Who are Flim and Flam?" Starlight asked as she took a closer look at the flyer.

"They're lying crooks, that's who they are," Applejack said bitterly, "They tried to steal _mah_ farm, then they sold mah Granny Smith some phony tonic. Those two are no good, plan an' simple!"

Starlight read aloud from the flyer, " _'World's Largest Cherry'_ -"

"It's probably a tomato," Fluttershy suggested.

" _'World's Largest Radish'_ -"

"You think it might just be a turnip?"

" _'World's Oldest Bubble'_ -"

"I - uh, what?"

" _'And The Main Attraction: The Missing Link Between Cows and Ponies'_!?" Starlight said the last item with wide eyes and an alarmed tone of voice.

"WHAT!?" everyone else said at once.

Starlight winced and looked apologetically at them saying, "Well, that's what it says. . ."

The most shocked out of everyone, Twilight asked in incredulous disbelief, "But. . . what would a missing link between cows and ponies even look like?"

Pinkie popped up in front of everyone and jumped up, raising her left forehoof as if she we in school, and said eagerly, "Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know! She would have the ears, horns, nose, tail, and cloven hooves of a cow, _but_ she'd be smaller, shorter, less wide, and have the legs, eyes, and mane of a pony!"

Spike shuddered and said, "Uhhh. . . that'd be weird!"

"Oh! And no Cutie Mark, almost forgot that!" Pinkie added quickly.

"I'm pretty sure they just hired somepony to put on a costume and act like a cow," Twilight said levelly, "Or maybe they just made a wooden dummy."

Applejack adjusted her hat and said with a serious frown, "All Ah know is that we aint' letting them get away with this! Come on!"

Applejack turned in the direction of the address printed on the flyer, but was stopped when Twilight held her hoof out in front of her.

"Applejack, we really should just let it go," she said.

"What do you mean, let it go?" Applejack replied in anger, "Those two are scamming ponies again!"

Twilight calmly explained, "They tricked you into betting Sweet Apple Acres, and that was wrong, but we stopped them. Then they tried selling a fake tonic, and you stopped them. But now, they really aren't doing anything illegal. Sure, probably nothing on that flyer is really what they say it is, but. . . well. . . it's up to the ponies to decide whether or not they should spend their money to see it."

"Yeah," Spike chimed in, "And if they're dumb enough to believe that they've got a half-pony half-cow in their tent, they deserve to loose their money!"

"Spike!" Twilight shouted in disapproval.

Spike shrugged, "Just saying."

Rarity approached Applejack and said, "Look, dear. I am quite certain that we are not needed at this time, and that we shouldn't lower ourselves by dealing with the likes of those two. I am quite sure that once the ponies of Manehatten see how clearly fake their exhibits are, they'll surely run them out of this city themselves, without any assistance from us. . ." Rarity then pointed in the general direction of the train station and said quickly, "Not to mention, we have a train to catch."

Applejack's face still held onto a frown, and she breathed out of her nose impatiently, "Ah don't like just walking away from trouble."

"If we pick a fight with them we might just make things worse," Twilight said, looking away as she recalled her most recent experience with Trixie, "Trust me, I know. . ." Twilight shook off her funk and said, "They'll get what's coming to them eventually. And if ponies like looking at their exhibits enough to give them money, then let's just let them. At least it can't potentially hurt anyone like their fake tonic."

"Blah, blah, blah, come on guys, let's just go before I decide to fly home myself," Rainbow Dash complained as she folded her forelegs and flapped her wings impatiently.

At that moment, the walk signal turned green, and the group moved across the street amid the mass of Manehatten ponies who were busy that late afternoon which was turning into early evening. Applejack quickly used this as an opportunity to get lost within the crowd.

* * *

Applejack sneaked around the back of the large tent set up in Central Park. She carefully crept next to it, trying her best not to make a sound as she placed her ear against the tent. She could already hear movement from within, and before long she could hear the voices of the sly brothers.

". . . out of that stuff, then how are we gonna-?"

"Whoa, whoa, now hold on their Flim. We-."

"We can't have a pair of loose lips calling us names like-."

"Calm down, alright. The show doesn't begin for a while yet, and those ponies won't mind waiting for something this good! Let's just go out and get the stuff and make some more! Come on, come on!"

"Okay, okay, just help me, _heh-heh_ , _tie things down_ first, just in case."

"Oh, sure. . .ha-ha-ha."

Applejack listened to the brothers laugh for a while, then she head the sound of things being move around, and then she heard approaching hoofsteps, and used this as her cue to quickly step back from the tent. It was just in time too, as two seconds later, a secret flap opened up from the wall of the tent, and out quickly pranced the Flim Flam brothers, clearly in a quite a rush. The flap closed up by their magic, and was expertly hidden in a way so that no one would realize that there was an entrance there.

Once the brothers were a good distance away, Applejack stepped out of the shadows and faced where the tent flap was. "Alright then," she said to herself, "Time to blow this 'cow-pony' nonsense wide open."

Applejack moved her forehooves over the side of the tent like a blind mare, until she finally felt the flap. She pulled the flap open and quickly ducked in. It appeared to be an inner room, not meant for the general public. Strewn around the room were several open crates of tomatoes and radishes. There were also several empty bottles on a table in the center of the room. But the most interesting part of the room was a large opened cage with wheels under it. Within the cage appeared to be another table, and something way lying on top of it. It was covered by a black sheet, so Applejack couldn't tell just what it was.

Applejack took a nervous glance behind her, and quickly trotted into the empty cage. She cautiously approached the covered table, eyeing it suspiciously.

"So," Applejack remarked, "Is this their main attraction?"

Aware that after getting this far that there would be no point it backing down now, she bit the sheet and whipped it off the table. Applejack gasped in complete shock as she beheld what she could only describe as the Missing Link Between Cows and Ponies.

The figure was lying flat on her stomach atop the table with her eyes closed, spread eagled with thick ropes tied around her hooves. These ropes were in turn tied down to heavy metal staples embedded in the floor of the cage. It was clear that the Flim Flam brothers didn't intend for her to go anyway any time soon. However, the figure's appearance was what really caught Applejack off guard. Being a farmer, Applejack was used to seeing cows nearly everyday, and would stop the rare cow stampede with Winona's help. So Applejack's mind was nearly completely blown at the sight of this strange looking calf.

The small cow was just as Pinkie Pie had described, but that part didn't really surprise Applejack that much. It was actually seeing that appeared to be one familiar thing; a cow; but looked more like another familiar thing; a pony; that was not at all supposed to look like the first thing; a cow. The calf also had a red bandanna tied around her neck, and her "mane" was relatively short and brown, the same color as the brown coloring that adorned the sides of her body, which was broken up by lighter tan coloration in between.

Applejack closed her mouth after gaping at the figure on the table for a few seconds, then slowly approached for a closer look.

"Did those brothers really carve and paint this thing?" Applejack said to herself as she took a close look at the calf's pink snout, "Ah can't believe they went to all that trouble to-."

Applejack's voice stopped suddenly. She told herself that it was impossible, but she was _positive_ that she had felt a soft breath blow on her face.

Then, the calf opened her big emerald green eyes.

"Eyaaaaah!" Applejack shouted as she stumbled back in fright.

"Ahhhhh!" the calf shouted back, and she made to pull her legs in and stand up quickly, but was surprised to find her legs tightly bound and held out from her. "What in tarnation-? Huh? Why am Ah tied up like this? How-?" her eyes suddenly widened in realization and she said slowly, "Hang on. . . Ah got beaten by Oleander, then rustled by those two yeller unicorns, and then force fed me some kinda sleeping potion so they could parade me around this Equestria place like a side show and feed me between shows. . ." She glared up at Applejack and said, "Are you with 'em?!"

Applejack stared at the tied down calf before her, amazed that it was an actual living, breathing, speaking creature. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to get herself to talk with something that just looked so alien to her.

"Are you?!" the calf demanded with a fierce frown.

Applejack immediately shook her head and said, "No, not at all! Ah ain't with those rotten brothers." Applejack took her hat off to show her respect and sincerity and continued, "Ah just came here to see. . . if yer were real."

Caught off guard by this, the cow cocked her head and said, "Beg pardon?"

Applejack swallowed hard and said, "Well, those brothers advertised that they had something that was half-pony and half-cow, and Ah thought it was hoax, so-."

"Hold on a cotton-picking minute!" the calf said, looking offended as she tried in vain to pull herself up, "Ah ain't no pony! Ah'm a bonafide member of Cattlekind from the Prairie, and don't you or anyone else try to tell me that Ah'm not!"

Applejack held her right forehoof out gently and said, "Now, calm down, girl. Don't get all hot and bothered, Ah didn't mean no offense." Applejack but her hat back on and gave a friendly smile, "Listen here, Ah don't like those Flim Flam brothers either. They nearly messed up mah life and mah family's live twice already."

The cow raised her brow at this. "No foolin'?" she asked, staring at the orange farm pony smiling kindly at her. Then the calf looked down at her bound forehooves, and looked at Applejack in desperation and said, "Then untie me! Please! No one else is here, quick! Ah'll do anything for ya! Ah'll give ya anything! Please!"

"Hold on there, partner," Applejack said gently, "Ah don't need or want anything from you-."

"No, no, no, please! Those two will keep me like this till the day I die! Please, I'm begging you! Please, please, _please_ untie me!" the calf begged, her eyes tearful and pleading as she looked up at Applejack.

"Oh would you please calm down, and quiet down before somepony hears us," Applejack hissed as she walked close to the calf and looked her in the eye. This caused her to quiet down, and Applejack continued, "Now, as Ah was saying before you interrupted me, Ah don't need or want anything from you. Ah don't need anything in return to help someone who's clearly in need."

Applejack then placed both of her forehooves onto the big knot that wrapped around the young cow's right forehoof. Probably due to the thickness of the rope, the knot wasn't exactly super tight. The knot was just meant to keep the calf's leg held down, and the brothers reasoned that she couldn't exactly reach the knots to loosen them. Of course, the presence of a willing rescuer with free hooves changed all that.

In a few seconds, Applejack had managed to push, pull, and budge the knot enough to unravel it, freeing the calf's right leg. She lifted her leg up and smiled widely, then laughed and shouted, "Boy, howdy! I'm free!"

"Shhh!" Applejack warned as she looked around nervously, "And you're not free just yet. You still-."

The odd looking cow just laughed as she waved her freed hoof dismissively, "Aw, don't sweat it. Ah can get out easy now." She then moved her cloven hoof over to her still tied down left leg and began attacking the knot. In even less time than Applejack, she had undid the knot. She held up her right hoof and said proudly, "Cloven hooves, ma'am horse. Ah know, Ah'm blessed."

Applejack just stared, suddenly becoming more unnerved at seeing cloven hooves on something that appeared so pony-like in-spite of allegedly being a cow. Applejack guessed that the calf was probably just a hair shorter than she was.

"Any particular reason why you're staring?" the calf said in confusion.

Applejack snapped out of her daze and said, "Oh, um, sorry, Ah just. . . pardon me, Ah didn't introduce mahself. I'm Applejack, from Sweet Apple Acres."

The cow nodded her head and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Applejack. My name's Arizona, from the Prairie in Fœnum."

"The Prairie in _where_?" Applejack asked.

Arizona shrugged, "Eh, figured you wouldn't know where that is, just like Ah don't know where Sweet Apple Acres or Equestria is. Boy, howdy, Ah feel homesick already."

Applejack suddenly gasped a took a step back towards the secret exit flap, "Oh, horseapples, home! The train'll be leaving soon! Ah gotta. . . um. . ." Applejack cast a worried glance Arizona's way.

Arizona smiled cheerfully and said, "You late for something? No problem. Go ahead, Ah'm as good as free now, and Ah can take care of mahself, believe you me! Ah was unconscious when those brothers caught me," Arizona stomped her left hoof and dragged it across the table, saying with a confident gleam in her eye, "But Ah really am a bruiser and the champion of all Cattlekind!"

Applejack stared ta Arizona in a curious manner, now unsure what to really make of her. Then, remembering the train, she nodded and said, "Well, if you're sure, then fine. Just try to lay low and stay out of trouble, Sugarcube!"

And with that, Applejack ran out the back way.

Arizona stared after Applejack for a while, a thoughtful, wide eyes expression on her face. "Sugarcube?" she repeated slowly, then she smiled the most adorable of smiles and said, "She called me Sugarcube. . . she wants us to be best friends!"

* * *

"She must have gone to face those Flim Flame brothers!" Twilight said as she paced around on the train station platform, "That's the only explaination! Ugh! Why didn't she listen?"

"We should've all just gone with her," Rainbow Dash said as she flew back and forth restlessly, "I would've like to press those two into jerk cider."

"Rainbow, we can't go around assault ponies!" Twilight warned.

"No matter how uncouth and utterly horrible they are!" Rarity said as she stuck her nose up in the air.

"I think we should go look for her. She might be in trouble," Fluttershy offered.

Pinkie bounced excitedly and said, "Good idea Fluttershy. I'll look first! Found her!" She pointed at the orange Earth Pony running as fast as she could to get to the station.

Applejack slid to a halt amidst her friends and panted as she said, "Ah made it. . . right?"

Twilight glanced at the train schedule and nodded, "By only two minutes. Where were you? We were all worried!"

Applejack caught her breath and smiled, "Ah decided to take a sneak peak at the Flim Flam brother's show stopper while they were away."

"Oh, oh, oh! Did you see the cow-pony, or pony-cow?" Pinkie said excitedly.

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Pinkie, be serious. It was either some kind of dummy or a pony in a costume, right AJ?"

Applejack just smiled and shook her head, saying, "It wasn't a dummy, but let's just say Ah convinced our 'missing link' to quit her job with the Flim and Flam."

Twilight sighed and said, "Well, I still don't think you needed to get involved. But if you taught somepony a lesson about it being wrong to deceive others, then I guess it was a good thing."

Once on the train, Applejack had some time to think. She hadn't lied as much as not mentioned a little something, and that still made her feel a little bad. However, she justified her actions with the fact that her friends probably wouldn't believe her. Plus, Arizona was pretty much a puzzle herself. She asserted that she was completely a cow and not some weird cross, yet she didn't look like any of the cows Applejack ever saw on the farm, young or old. Everything about Arizona screamed "Equestrian Earth Pony" to Applejack, except for the horns, ears, nose, tails, and cloven hooves.

Applejack shuddered at the recent memory of Arizona's hooves. A pony with cloven hooves disturbed her greatly, but then again, Arizona wasn't a pony, or was she?

 _"Ah. . . really don't like things that are weird or unnatural,"_ Applejack thought to herself, the Vampire Fruit Bat incident coming to mind. The strange and the different had always bothered her, and the fact that she was bothered this way bothered her even more. Applejack was aware that some things that she and her family did, such as the making of Zap Apple Jam, would seem weird, strange, unnatural, and different to others. However, she still couldn't get over her aversion to things that were different to her. Applejack still felt ashamed for the way she had judged Zecora, yet some part of her still felt that the zebra's mannerisms and abilities were just too bizarre for her to handle. And it seemed like that feeling was even stronger for this Arizona . . . character.

Applejack gave a sigh as she looked out the window, and in-spite of her shame for doing so, allowed herself to fell thankful that she wouldn't ever be seeing Arizona again.

* * *

"We'll fill her up good with this, and we can put her in a really great pose for all those paying customers!" Flim said giddily as held some bags with his magic.

Flam was doing the same as he walked beside his brother, grinning as they entered the tent through the hidden flap, "Oh yeah, finding her conked out in that old cave was the best- WHAAAA?!"

The brothers dropped their bags as they saw Arizona sitting up on her haunches and untying the fourth and last not. She unraveled the rope, and then looked up at the two brothers. She smiled, and then drew her right forehoof across her neck in a slashing motion.

"Close the cage door!" Flim shouted at Flam, who had been staring open mouthed at the inexplicably freed cow.

Before Flim could even light up his horn, Arizona suddenly launched herself forward horns first, moving so fast that she left Speed Echoes behind her. She smashed right into Flim, blasting him out through the canvas of the tent. She then jumped at Flam and kicked both hind hooves right into his face. He stumbled backwards, allowing Arizona to quickly punch him in the knees, head butt him in the chest, hit him in the fetlocks, and then uppercut him with his horns. Then, after several more brutal swings that connected with his face, Arizona knocked him down to the ground.

Flim had gotten up just in time to see his brother get thrashed by the mad cow. Terrified of the pint-sized powerhouse, Flim quickly got up and ran for his life. However, he suddenly felt something wrap around his tail, and was swung in and upward arc and slammed into the ground.

Arizona had grabbed a spare rope that was lying around in the tent and had quickly fashioned a lasso out of it, and used it to stop Flim's escape. She then jumped up, positioned her hind legs below her, and kicked down at Flim several times, as if walking on two legs on top of him. She then landed in front of him and rapidly punched him in the chest and face. Not giving Flim a second to gather his thoughts, Arizona then swiftly tripped Flim up by lassoing his front legs and pulling up quickly. Partially airborne, Arizona hit him with an uppercut from her horns, then jumped up to punch him with her forehoof and kick him with both hindhooves. Then, she finished it by jumping and spinning through air, slamming into him with her horns.

Arizona stood over the unconscious unicorn, who looked just as badly beaten as his brother. The calf hadn't even broken a sweat during the fight, having fought much more difficult battles back in Fœnum.

"So. . . what now?" she asked herself.

That was a question that almost frightened her. She was in a strange land with strange ungulates who apparently thought she was a strange, so where could she possibly go?

A smile immediately came to her face as the obvious answer came to her. "Of course. Ah got _one_ friend here!" she said.

Arizona walked towards the tent exit, but then stopped, and looked back at the black sheet Applejack had dropped to the floor. "Well," Arizona said as an idea began to take shape in her mind, "She said to 'lay low'. . . that _could_ work."

The calf walked over to the sheet, hoping that she'd soon be able to blend in with the Equestrians enough to get her to the only safe place she knew of for someone like her.


End file.
